Terrific Connacht thriving at Fortress Sportsground

Inside Track with John McIntyre

In nearly two decades of professional rugby, we have never seen a Connacht team as good and as consistent as this.

The proof of the pudding – excuse me for being so blatantly seasonal – was there even before last Thursday’s landmark triumph over Munster in the Guinness Pro12, but that result does serve to underline the sport’s continuing revolution out West.

With six victories from their previous 11 outings in the league and lying in the top half of the Pro12 table, Connacht were already making positive headlines ahead of Munster’s visit to College Road last week, but this fixture carried a lot of historical baggage for the hosts and the statistics offered a brutal reminder why.

In their previous 41 meetings, Connacht had only recorded a single victory over Munster and they were also entitled to be a little battle weary after a tough festive schedule which led to honourable away defeats to both Ulster and Leinster. Furthermore, with the obvious exception of the injured Conor Murray, Munster had travelled to Galway in strength and were in buoyant mood too having just dismantled Leinster in Thomond Park.

Against that background, the visitors were expected to continue their dominance over Connacht and when they surged into an early 13-nil lead, admittedly with the elements behind them, you’d have feared the worst for Pa Lam’s troops. Munster’s early try came from Irish flanker Peter O’Mahony and with Ian Keatley judging the difficult wind to perfection from that conversion and two penalties, it appeared Connacht’s unbeaten home record this season was about to end.

By half-time, however, they were back in the contest following a superbly executed try in the 30th minute which owed its origins to a precise chip behind the Munster cover by out half Craig Ronaldson. Centre Robbie Henshaw surged onto the ball and powered past Duncan Williams before offloading to the supporting Kieran Marmion for a score which had the Sportsground rocking.

Connacht had thrown down a marker and they were in no mood to back off on the resumption. Displaying huge intensity at the breakdown and with their overall commitment repeatedly putting Munster on the retreat, they turned the match on its head with tries from Ronaldson and the in-form Aly Muldowney to help them storm into a 24 to 16 points lead.

To nobody’s surprise, Munster gallantly sought to rescue a bonus point in the closing minutes, but the tackling and resistance of the Connacht players was savage in its nature. They successfully protected their line in front of an enthralled crowd of nearly 8,000 to achieve one of the province’s greatest and most significant successes.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.